peanut

There have been a number of international wrestlers who took the trouble to learn folkstyle and compete here. You could ask them.

2 is absolutely true. Plenty of international freestylers speak English.

I think we’ll win anywhere from 0 to 2 golds. I might reevaluate if Spencer qualifies his weight. But right now I see it as 0 to 2.

We should go to freestyle for a few reasons: 1) It’s a better product. 2) There would be a larger pool of wrestlers to recruit from, meaning higher quality matches. 3) It would provide better preparation for worlds and Olympics. But I know it’ll never happen because too many people prefer watching guys do nothing at the edge, and then crawl out of bounds at the faintest hint of actual wrestling.

Spencer Lee. From PA. 25 years old. 3x NCAA champ, 2x Hodge winner. His mom is French. Hope he qualifies the weight because he belongs in Paris. Zain Retherford. From PA. 28 years old. World gold and silver. 3x NCAA champ. 2x Hodge winner. Also hope he qualifies the weight. I think he can do it. The US has struggled at 65kg for some reason. Kyle Dake. From NY. 33 years old. 4x world champ. World silver. Olympic bronze. 4x NCAA champ. Hodge winner. Will be competing at his second Olympics. Aaron Brooks. From MD. 23 years old. 4x NCAA champ. Hodge winner. Kyle Snyder. From MD. 28 years old. 4x world-level champ. 9x world-level medalist. Will be competing at his third Olympics. Mason Parris. From IN. 24 years old. World bronze medalist. 1x NCAA champ. Hodge winner. Personally I think it's only right for him to compete in Paris.

Every high-level business brings in outside consultants to get a fresh perspective on their operations. NLWC obviously has plenty of resources, but it wouldn’t hurt to get the benefit of JB’s expertise. He’s not going up to 86kg so he shouldn’t fee any sort of way about it. But whatever.

It’s clear that wrestling fans don’t understand trash talk. Yesterday (in the NBA playoffs) Ant Edwards hit an impressive three over Kevin Durant and then asked him “What the **** did I tell you, old *** *****?!” Durant just laughed it off. After the game Ant said Durant was his favorite player ever.

Yes DT would be the best resource for sure. But if a seven time gold medalist lives three hours from you, you’d be smart to reach out.

How do you feel about Greco?

He knows how to watch video and break down what he’s seen.

Penn State versus JB is hilarious. He lives three hours away from State College. You guys should be trying to convince him to move, or at least to work out in State College sometimes, or help prep guys for specific matches. I’m sure there’s mutual respect.

Tough to say how he’ll finish career. I think he should expect multiple world-level golds for himself. I also think he’s fully capable of winning gold in Paris in a few months — and if he does it would be a rare accomplishment for a college wrestler. Not sure if JB’s willing to work with Brooks, but if he is they should work together. I’m sure JB could help him game plan for Yazdani.

Yes it was a horrible format. Extremely boring and drawn out. Americans do not like Greco and forcing it on us won’t change that. I also don’t care about consos in any style.

Really a tasteless thing to post about a great champion.

DT is still top four in the world (Yaz, Brooks, Zahid, DT in no particular order). That’s incredible given that he’s 33, which is old for elite wrestling, and has kids and businesses. DT’s resume is amazing too. Two Hodges and four world-level golds including an Olympic gold (as well as five total medals). And he managed win golds after being stuck behind a prime Burroughs. He was like 5-1 versus Yazdani. That alone is insane. Simply a fantastic wrestler who just lost to a monster in Brooks with grace and class. You can’t ask for more in an athlete.

Looks I was five for six. Did anybody go six for six?

Here's what Aaron Brooks did in the last month: Won his 4th NCAA title, won the NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Wrestler award, and caps off a Hodge-winning season Won the OTT challenge Tournament where he was forced to wrestle near 11 PM and cut weight after midnight. Weighs in hours later at 8 AM, beat reigning world champ DT at 1 PM and again at 9:20 PM. Went to class and studied and stuff? It's unfortunate that Brooks was given such a disadvantageous schedule simply because he was one of the biggest names at the tournament. At any rate, he got through it. Bro is an absolute monster.

That's it, I'm done for the evening. I can't take this.

Greco is horrible and I'm close to turning off the feed. This format is horrendous, and it's unfortunate given the considerable star power and story lines they are working with.

One idea would be to have all the finals in the evening so we don’t have to sit through four hours of Greco and WFS consos in the morning and then tune back in in the evening. Some of us have things to do.

Very confusing. The MFS finals presented alone and in a single series would be lights out. But instead they had all styles together, consolations matches in all styles thrown in, some finals matching with two in the AM and others with up to two in the PM. I’m one of the few people who wants to watch MFS but that presentation really tested my patience. It was mostly boring and confusing. No disrespect to WFS. (Greco is extremely boring to me though)

That would be a super tough matchup and Brooks would be the underdog. But I think Brooks takes it. Yazdani is only 29, but it’s a well-worn 29. Plus NLWC has been studying him for years.

Introspective and mature interview for sure. It’s easy to repeat wise things your coach tells you when you’re young. But showing goodwill, gratitude, and self awareness towards the end of a career is real.

IMO Brooks is underrated. I think he wins Olympic gold this summer.

Brooks went through the challenge tourney yesterday, including winning over a relatively rested and super tough Zahid (yes it was controversial). Then he had to cut weight after midnight. Then weigh in like 8 am. Then face DT at like 1pm. Really insane run.